Electronic devices can be found in most aspects of modern life. Personal portable devices such as cellular phones, digital cameras, and music players as well as computers, automobiles, and manufacturing systems are some examples. The market for electronic devices or products increasingly demands more functions in reduced dimensions at lower prices.
These high performance products are lighter, faster, smaller, multi-functional, highly reliable, and lower cost. In efforts to meet such requirements, improvements have been attempted in all aspects of electronic product development.
Significant effort has been made in development of new techniques for producing smaller and less expensive semiconductor chips. Unfortunately, this development is still not enough to satisfy the demands. Other efforts involve improving packages for integrated circuit chips.
Numerous semiconductor packaging methodologies have found widespread use. Among those that have been commonly used is the so-called “board-on-chip” arrangement of a substrate relative to a semiconductor die. As its name implies, a substrate, or “board,” which provides a connection pattern of input and output elements such as contacts, leads, or other electrodes is positioned on a semiconductor die. Typically, the substrate is positioned on the bond pad such as an input/output electrode bearing surface or “active” surface of the semiconductor die.
In order to provide the desired connection pattern, a substrate typically includes a planar dielectric member, electrical contacts on the die-facing side of the substrate, conductive traces that extend laterally along the dielectric planar member, and redistributed contact pads, or “terminals,” that are exposed at the opposite surface of the substrate. A substrate may also include conductive vias that extend through at least a portion of the thickness of the substrate to connect contacts to corresponding conductive traces.
In addition, to facilitate the formation of a molded protective structure, or “package,” around the substrate-semiconductor die assembly, the substrate may also include a mold gate. A mold gate is a feature on the substrate, which is configured to communicate with a mold runner through which liquid packaging material is introduced into a mold cavity and to direct the liquid packaging material to desired locations in a desired fashion.
Injection molding is a common manufacturing practice. Various articles such as plastic bottles, toothbrushes, children's toys, as well as integrated circuit chips are made using well-known injection molding techniques generally involves melting a material, which is often plastic, then forcing the melt stream at high temperatures and pressures through one or more gates into a mold cavity.
The melt cools in the shape of the mold cavity, which is opened to eject the finished part. The melt is supplied from a machine nozzle, injected into a heated manifold, and distributed to the mold cavities through heated nozzles. The heated nozzles are seated within bores in a mold plate that forms the mold cavities.
Packaging or encapsulating material is typically introduced over surfaces of the substrate and a semiconductor die thereon from the opposite side or surface of the substrate. As a result, the mold gate is positioned on the opposite side or surface of the substrate from that which carries the conductive traces.
The mold gates of substrates are typically formed by laminating an additional material layer to the surface of the substrate opposite from the conductive trace-bearing surface of the substrate. This additional material layer may be used to form the mold gate itself, or to support a mold gate.
Of course, the requirement of additional material layers over the substrate and thus separately patterned, undesirably increases the cost of fabricating the substrate. Moreover, the use of an additional material layer to form a mold gate may undesirably increase the manufacturing cycle time, which can also increase cost.
Despite the advantages of recent developments in semiconductor fabrication and packaging techniques, there is a continuing need for improving packaging methods, systems, and designs.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit package system with improved manufacturing processes and materials including mold gates.
In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems.
Additionally, the need to save costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures, adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.